A Matter of Trust
by Aimee5
Summary: Previously called 'This Can't Be Happening Again' - A case hits close to home for both Grissom and Sara.
1. Chapter 1

Title: A Matter of Trust (1/?)

Category: AU, Sara/Grissom, WIP, angst, friendship, UST, possible romance

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, except Tom Dupont. I'm not making anything out of this; it is just for enjoyment.

A Matter of Trust (1/?)

"News just in that Tom Dupont has been released from prison, having got out early for good behaviour after having served a large part of his sentence..."

Sara sat in the break room staring at the TV screen.

'This can't be happening' she thought, over and over again. The image of his face came up on the screen, and Sara looked away almost instantly, burying her face in her hands to try and hide herself from his face. Suddenly the news report stopped, the TV silent, causing Sara to look up. Grissom stood with his back to the TV facing Sara, having just turned it off. His eyes showed concern, and he instantly knew what she was thinking.

'He can't... he can't...we can't let him...' her voice trailed off as silent tears began to run down her cheeks. She tried to hide them from him by swiftly wiping her cheeks, but the tears did not go without his noticing. He started to move towards her, about to comfort her, when Warrick strolled into the room, followed by Catherine.

'Hey Gris, what cases you got for us tonight then?' Warrick said.

Sara, who was sitting with her back to the door shot Grissom a look, pleading him not to say anything as she quickly wiped the tears away. A look of understanding flashed through his eyes, and he turned to go and sit at the table as Warrick and Catherine both sat down opposite Grissom. Sara came and joined them a few seconds later having had enough time to tidy herself up, and sat down next to Grissom.

'Where's Nick?' Grissom asked, looking around the table, noting one person missing.

'Oh, he had to run to the, ahem, 'ladies'', Warrick quipped.

A moment later, Nick ran into the room, mumbling some apology as Catherine giggled at Warrick's remark. Nick looked puzzled, while Warrick sat, trying to keep a straight face. Sara remained silent, as though not noticing what had been going on around her. Warrick looked at her, concerned.

'You alright Sara? You're not usually this quiet...', he began.

Sara, looking up, as if awakening from a daydream, nodded, faintly smiling, as she didn't trust her voice enough to formulate a believable response.

Grissom, wanting to take the attention off Sara, began giving out the cases.

"Catherine, Nick, you've got the 419 in the casino car park." He said, handing Catherine the slip originally intended for Sara and Nick.

"Sara, Warrick, you're with me."

Sara looked up, relieved to be working with Grissom, somehow she felt safer around him. He gave her a reassuring smile – the exchange not going unnoticed to the rest of the room. Nick was about to comment, but, on feeling Catherine's foot make contact with his chin thought it best to remain quiet.

As the group got up from the table to go to their respective cases, Catherine stopped Grissom, pulling him aside, and asked:

'Is Sara ok? She looks kinda out of it tonight'.

Grissom was not sure how to answer, knowing that he could not break Sara's confidence, but unwilling to lie to Catherine either.

'She'll be fine' he said, simply, and walked off to Sara and Warrick, who were waiting for him a little further down the hall, leaving Catherine standing there with a worried look on her face.

As Nick came up behind Catherine, Sara turned around and flashed them a faint smile, before walking off with Warrick and a protective-looking Grissom.

'Something's up with her' Nick commented, a frown creasing his brow.

'Yeah, I know, I just wanna know what it is,' came Catherine's reply as they started off for their crime scene.

xxx

Sara worked efficiently, but quietly through the crime scene. The only thing missing was her usual enthusiasm for the work at hand. Grissom, while doing his own job, had been keeping a watchful eye on her. To anyone who did not know her, she looked like a normal CSI, going through a crime scene collecting evidence. But he did know her, better than anyone else, he thought, and he knew something was wrong. And he knew what that something was.

Warrick had also been watching Sara as she worked, but less obviously than Grissom. He knew something was up, but unlike Grissom, didn't have a clue as to what it was. He also noticed Grissom carefully watching Sara, as if she was about to fall and break like a precious vase, and he wanting to be close enough to be able to catch it when it did. Warrick wasn't stupid, he knew something was going on, he knew Grissom knew what was wrong with Sara, but he also realised that he was not going to find out until they decided they wanted to share. For now it was their secret.

It occurred to him that they often knew things between themselves that he, Nick and Catherine weren't let in on. As he thought back to the numerous cases he had worked with both Grissom and Sara, they always seemed to 'get' each other knowing what the other was thinking before anyone else did. He liked to think that he knew Grissom fairly well, although in reality, no one really knew Grissom, not even Sara. But she sure knew more about him than the rest of them. Hell, Sara knew more about Grissom than Catherine did.

Warrick wasn't sure why that thought shocked him. He narrowed it down to the fact that he had always considered Grissom and Catherine as the heads of the unit, not just Grissom, and considered himself, Nick, and Sara as the younger, newer versions. He also knew that Grissom and Catherine had known each other a long time, and were very fond of each other. Their relationship went no further than that though, no matter what rumours some people wanted to start up.

However, as he thought about it, when Grissom had announced that Sara was going to come and investigate the death of Holly Gribbs, he had referred to her as an old friend. Someone he trusted. This meant that he must have known Sara for a considerable amount of time. Possibly even longer than he had known Catherine. It was obvious that Grissom and Sara had a connection. What he didn't know was how deep it went.

Watching her now, this was not the Sara he knew and liked. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And he hoped that, if she was not willing to share her problems with the rest of them, that Grissom would be able to help her through them, and soon. He missed the real Sara.

xxx

Nick drove the SUV to the crime scene in silence, until he could no longer stand it. He felt he needed to talk about what had happened back at the lab.

"Cath?"

"Yeah", she answered cautiously, turning her attention to Nick from what was out of the window, knowing what the topic of conversation was going to be.

"Is it just me, or does Grissom know what's going on with Sara?"

"I don't know for sure, but he sure seems to."

'Do you think we'll ever find out what it is?' he asked, knowing full well that Grissom and Sara were the two most private people on the unit, so having the two of them, of all people, sharing the same secret gave them almost no hope as to finding out what it was. Unless of course either of them wanted to tell him, which he thought was highly unlikely.

Catherine just backed up his own thoughts, by replying:

'Only if they want us to', before turning to once again look out of the window.

xxx

Sara's mind was racing. While trying to do her job efficiently, all she could think about were the problems with the justice system. Listing the faults in her mind as a diversion, she found herself getting angrier and more emotional as the minutes passed. She hated to admit it, but she was scared, and the only person who understood her fear was Grissom.

Every now and then she would look up from her work, and their eyes would meet for a brief second, before she turned away again, not wanting him to have to see the pain in her eyes.

She noticed Warrick watching her aswell. He knew something was up, she could tell by the suspicious way that he was watching Grissom and herself. She was only fueling his suspicions by continuously looking up at Grissom every once in a while, but at that moment she didn't care. She needed the reassurance that she found in his eyes.

With Grissom around, she felt safer. And right now, she really wanted, and needed, to feel safe.

xxx

'Concentrate on collecting the evidence, concentrate on collecting the evidence' Grissom kept telling himself. For once, he could not concentrate at a crime scene. He kept glancing over at her, as if to check that she was still there.

"Well where would she go, you idiot?" his rational side questioned. "Besides, either you or Warrick would have noticed."

He had asked her a few times since they had left the lab if she was alright, but she had blown him off every time, saying she was fine, that there was nothing to worry about.

'She looks a nervous wreck' he thought to himself. He could see the emotions crossing her face one after the other, her eyes going from thoughtful to angered to pained.

'I want to help you, Sara. I really do. Why won't you let me in?'

xxx


	2. Chapter 2

Title: A Matter Of Trust (2/?)

Disclaimer etc: See Chapter 1

(2/?)

A couple of hours later had Grissom, Sara, and Warrick were walking back through the doors of the Las Vegas Crime Lab.

After dropping the evidence they had collected at Greg's workstation, Warrick made his way to the break room. Sara was about to follow, when she felt someone lightly touch her arm, and spun around to find Grissom, looking at her intently.

No words were needed.

Grissom lead Sara down the hallway towards his office. Warrick had noticed them going off together in that direction, but carried onto the break room where he found Catherine and Nick, but not before taking one last look over his shoulder to see Grissom leading Sara towards his office.

He sighed and sat down in one of the chairs, to find both the other CSIs looking at him intently. He knew what they were thinking.

"I don't know what's worrying her, but something ain't right" he said, as if answering their silent question.

Catherine had a concerned look on her face, as she asked:

"Well, where is she now?"

"I just saw her go off with Grissom, I'm guessing to his office. If anyone can get through to her, it'll be him."

xxx

Grissom lead Sara into his office, and for once, shut the door behind them.

Sara went and sat down in one of the two chairs in front of his desk, while Grissom came and joined her, sitting in the other chair, instead of behind his desk as he usually did. He felt that making this a formal conversation would be a big mistake, as there was nothing formal about it. This was personal.

xxx

They sat in silence for quite some time. , not wanting to press Sara, sat patiently, waiting, occasionally shooting glances at his tarantula in the glass case next to him.

'I'm not sure what I'm meant to be doing or thinking right now' she finally said, fear evident in her voice, her face finally betraying weakness.

She had curled herself up in the chair. 'The foetal position' he thought to himself. Her face was pale, and her eyes had a far-out look about them.

'Nobody's expecting you to' came Grissom's reply.

'The others are, they don't know what's going on, they just know I'm stressed out about something, but they don't know any details.'

'Do you want them to?' he asked softly.

'No. Not yet anyway. They shouldn't have to worry about me', Sara said in a quiet voice.

'They're your friends, they're already worried about you' Grissom reasoned.

'I just...I don't think I'm ready to tell them yet.'

They again lapsed into silence; Sara lost in her thoughts, while Grissom watched her carefully.

'What if...what if he comes after me again?' she asked a few minutes later. Her fear struck a chord deep inside of him, and, in that moment he made a silent vow that he would forever protect her.

'He won't. I won't let him.'

Sara turned to her left, and looked Grissom straight in the eyes, with tears forming in her own.

'How are you going to be able to stop him? You couldn't last time' she replied softly.

Grissom flinched. She was right; he hadn't been able to stop him the last time.

'I'm...I'm sorry, Gris, I didn't mean it like that, it just came out...' instantly regretting what she had said.

'No, no, you're right, I couldn't stop him last time, but I promise you, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.'

Sara looked at him again. She could see the sincerity in his eyes, and knew that he meant what he said. In any other time or place, she would felt giddy at his words, but right now she just felt what he intended her to feel, and what she needed to feel...safe.

The emotions she had kept bottled up inside of her for so long became so strong that she could no longer keep them all locked up inside. The tears started rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably, as the sobs wracked her body.

Suddenly she felt a pair of strong arms around of her, as Grissom lent forward in his chair and pulled her to him, trying to ease her pain. She didn't try to stop crying, she finally just let the pain flow out of her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding onto him tightly, while he rocked her, gently stroking her back.

They stayed like that for a long while, just holding onto each other, as Sara brought down the walls that she usually held so high.

As she started to calm down, all her tears having been shed, they pulled back slightly from each other. Grissom brought a hand up to Sara's cheek, and gently rubbed away the last of her tears with his thumb.

'Thank you' she said softly.

Grissom understood her double meaning, and just nodded, giving her one of his famous half smiles.

'I can't believe how early he got out, surely he should have stayed in prison a good few years longer than he has done.' She said after a few minutes, her voice calm once more.

'He should have. But he didn't.'

'I just...I never thought I'd have to deal with this so soon' she said, looking down at her hands, playing with them absentmindedly.

'You were going to have to deal with it sometime.'

'It's not fair' she said softly.

'No, it's not' he agreed, 'but you have to get on with your own life, and hopefully he'll just do the same.'

'And if he doesn't?'

Grissom didn't have an answer to that, so he stayed silent.

She looked at him and nodded. She knew what he was thinking. There was no way of telling what was going to happen.

'He doesn't even know that you're in Las Vegas now, Sara.' Grissom said, as if addressing her silent worry.

'Come on Gris, you know better than that. He found me once, he could find me again if he really wanted to.'

'Well to get to you, he's going to have to go through me first.' Grissom said, smiling slightly, but his voice was full on sincerity.

Despite the situation, Sara had to smile her wonderful gap toothed smile at his comment. She loved how Grissom was so protective of her. 'He must care for me after all' she thought to herself.

'Well' she said, getting up, 'we've got work to do.'

He smiled at her, knowing that he would never be able to keep her away from her work for too long.

She started to walk towards the door, where she turned round to look at him and said, smiling:

'Well, are you coming?'

'Yeah', he replied, marvelled by her ability to just switch off to things, as he got up and went towards the door.

As she was about to open the door, he stopped her by putting his hand on her arm, and repeated:

'I won't let anything happen to you, Sara. I promise.'

'I know.' She replied softly, her eyes twinkling. Whether it was because of unshed tears, or because of something else, he wasn't sure. She then turned back to the door, gently opening it.

"Come on" she said, softly, taking his hand. "We'll get through this, together."

Before stepping out, they released their hands, morphing into the professionals they were so well respected for being, and walked down the hallway to join their co-workers.

xxx


	3. Chapter 3

Title: A Matter Of Trust (3/?)

Disclaimer etc: See chapter 1

(3/?)

Grissom held the door to the break room open for Sara, while placing his other hand at the small of her back, guiding her into the room. On entering, they were both faced with three concerned faces.

Catherine was the first to look away. She saw how their looks made Sara uncomfortable, and that was the last thing they wanted to do. She shifted her gaze to Grissom, who was looking a little more relaxed. When she thought about it, so was Sara. Whatever they had talked about in his office must have calmed them both down.

'What?' questioned Sara, pulling Catherine out from her reverie.

Warrick and Nick just looked away guiltily. Trying to break the ice, Grissom spoke up.

'Well, let's see what we've got then' he said, referring to the cases, as he and Sara joined the rest of the team, sitting down next to each other at the table.

xxx

A half-hour later, the team had come to the end of their long shift.

'How about we all go for breakfast now then?' suggested Catherine.

Warrick and Nick agreed faster than anyone, they were starving.

'Yeah sure, that sounds like a great idea', Sara replied, trying to forget about what she had seen on the news just a few hours ago.

Grissom, after hearing Sara's reply, also agreed. He wanted to be near her as much as possible, just in case.

'Or maybe you're just using it as an excuse Gil' a voice in his head pointed out. He chose to ignore that comment. 'Of course it's nothing more than that. Is it?'

'So, where to this time then?' asked Sara, stopping his inner voices from arguing with each other, as they walked out of the building.

They quickly decided on a simple diner, after Nick had pointed out 'all we need is somewhere that serves food, I'm so hungry I'm beyond being fussy'.

They sat down in one of the booths while the waiter handed each of them a menu.

Sara seemed to lighten up a great deal amongst her friends, her worries almost forgotten. Almost. But not completely. Grissom could still see the underlying fear buried beneath her happy front. But he was glad to see her laughing again. He hadn't seen her smile properly in the last few hours, until now.

After they had ordered, they sat around chatting, waiting for their food to arrive. Discussions remained pretty much work centred, although the occasional personal comment was brought in here and there.

There was a shout from the counter that their food was ready, and Nick and Warrick jumped up almost immediately to grab theirs. Nick turned back to Sara, holding out his hand, saying:

'Come on Sara, come get food! You know you want to!' he was making her laugh with his childish ways so much, so that, after giving an exasperated look and a quick grin to Grissom, she was inclined to follow him, as she grabbed his hand as he pulled her up. She pretended to be bad-tempered, but it didn't fool anyone. As the three of them stalked off to the counter, Catherine and Grissom started talking in low voices.

'She looks like she's doing better already, what did you say to her in there?' she asked, teasingly.

'Just this and that' came Grissom's reply, with a tiny little half-smile accompanying it, as he watched Sara joking around with Nick and Warrick.

Catherine was curious, as always, but time had run out for her to question Grissom, as Sara, Nick and Warrick returned with the food, Sara carrying her own as well as Grissom's, and Warrick taking his own and Catherine's. She made a mental note to continue this talk with Grissom later on, before tucking into her much deserved breakfast, joining in on the happy banter going on at their table.

xxx

On returning to work that evening, after a good few hours of almost uninterrupted sleep, Sara was in a fairly upbeat mood. She arrived in reception, flashed her ID, and was halfway through the door to the rest of the building when Hannah, the receptionist, called out to her.

'Hey, Sara, you got a delivery.'

Sara turned, mystified, as she never normally got deliveries.

'It's probably just something to do with a case' she thought as she walked back to the reception desk.

Hannah brought up a bunch of red roses from underneath the desk, and handed them to Sara.

'So who's your secret admirer then, Sara?' Asked Hannah, smiling.

'I don't know' Sara replied quietly, still staring at the roses intently.

Just then Grissom walked through the doors at the front of the building. Upon noticing Sara holding a bunch of red roses, his mind went unwontedly into turmoil, questions and thoughts flying round his mind.

'Is Sara seeing someone? Why does that bother me? What am I talking about, it doesn't bother me. No, of course not. Not one little bit...Well, I could still ask her who they're from.'

As he stepped closer, he realised that she had an odd expression on her face. To anyone else it would look like she was shocked, but he knew better. She was scared. He soon found out why.

There was a card with the flowers. Slowly, Sara had opened it, and was staring at it, panic rising inside of her, as Grissom walked up behind her. She didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.

'It's from him.' She stated simply, knowing full well that he would know what she meant.

Grissom gently lead Sara off from the reception area where Hannah was watching their little display, and took the card from her hand.

He read it, then turned to her, as her eyes bore into his, fear written all over her features.

On the card was written:

'Thought you'd got away from me, did you? Well guess what, I'm back.'

xxx


	4. Chapter 4

Title: A Matter of Trust (4/?)

Disclaimer etc: See chapter 1

(4/?)

Grissom's mind was in turmoil. Instead of being in his usual 'getting down to business' point of view, right now all he could think of was Sara.

'If anything ever happened to her I don't know what I'd do' he thought to himself. 'No, what am I saying, nothing's going to happen to Sara, I won't let it. I promised her, and I'm not one to break my promises.'

Sara, meanwhile, was watching Grissom. His head was bent slightly down, but Sara could still see his face, and watched as half a dozen emotions crossed across his face. To most people his face would look blank, but Sara knew better than that, she knew him well enough to be able to tell.

"Gris?" she asked, pulling him out of his reverie.

His head snapped up, his face returning to work mode.

"We should print this, just to confirm that this is from him and not just a stupid hoax."

"Oh, come on Gris, we both know that he's smarter than that. He was probably wearing gloves when he wrote this, would have given a fake address, paid in cash. You know the drill."

"How can you be so sure that he wrote it?" Grissom asked, puzzled.

"You think it's just a coincidence that he gets out and I start receiving notes again? This isn't the first time he's sent me a threatening note, we both know that."

Grissom just nodded in agreement, deep in thought. Finally he said:

"We're going to have to notify Brass about this, and the others need to be informed. To be honest, you shouldn't be on your own at all for a while. Maybe Brass could arrange an officer..."

"No!" she cut him off. 'We have no evidence, nothing. He's too smart for that. Besides, he's taunting me, letting me know he's still around. He's one to play mind games, you of all people should know that."

Grissom wasn't surprised by Sara outburst. Well, if she wouldn't let them help her, she was going to have to let him help her, because he wasn't going to back off, no matter what she said. He decided to continue on a softer approach.

'Sara, I'm going to gather everyone in the break room, ok? You really are going to have to tell them what happened last time, so they understand what's going on now.'

'No, I don't want everyone to know' she said, her voice pained, her eyes filling up with tears that he knew would rarely ever be shed. 'It's bad enough that you know, but not them. Why can't my past just stay in the past. Why does that bastard have to bring it all up again?'

'Sara...' he started in a comforting tone.

'No, forget it. You're right, they do have to know. I just don't want them to, that's all. And I don't want to have to tell them. What are they going to think?'

Her face was now almost calm looking, the unshed tears having disappeared with the anger that was now buried inside of her.

'They're your friends, they're not going to judge you, they're going to want to help you. It won't be as bad as you think. Now, I'm going to take this to be analysed' he said, indicating the card, 'then I'll round up the others, and meet you in the break room in five.'

Sara nodded absently, took one last look at Grissom, and walked off in the direction of the bathroom. She had no intention whatsoever of walking into that break room looking as though she couldn't handle it. She was strong, and she could cope, she'd done it before, she could do it again.

Grissom watched her go, then tried to clear his mind as he walked off in the opposite direction.

xxx

Sara entered the break room five minutes later to be met by quiet discussions that ceased the minute she walked in. Five faces turned to look at her expectantly, full of worry.

'This is starting to become a habit' thought Sara as she walked further into the room.

"Have you told them anything?" she addressed Grissom.

"No, I thought I'd leave it to you."

'Gee, thanks Grissom' she thought silently to herself. 'Ok, I'm going to have to start somewhere.'

"Ok, here's the drill' she started casually, hoping to lighten the mood, 'when I was working in San Francisco I had this case. A woman was murdered in her home, gruesome, bloody mess. The only suspect was the jilted lover. She was married, and had been having an affair with this guy. Then she decided that she wasn't willing to risk her marriage anymore, so she broke it off. He got mad, went home, picked up his gun, and drove back to hers, planning on killing her. And he was clever, no fingerprints, no hairs, no fibres, nothing. He was nothing if not thorough.

"We had a tough time trying to prove it was him. Poor husband was the one that found her, and having known nothing of the affair, had to find out just after finding his wife dead, and all over the national news as well.

"Suffice to say that this was not a fun case to work on. It was even less fun because we had no evidence on the lover. He was released after questioning, wasn't even arrested for Christ's sake.

"I kept going back to the scene, sure that there was something there that I'd missed. The post-mortem had been carried out, but nothing damaging to the lover had been found. A sexual assault kit had been carried out, too. There was evidence of his DNA both on her and on the bed upstairs. Nothing forced, though. So the report said. I've always thought otherwise. They think she decided to have one last quickie before breaking it off. I don't think so some how.

"Anyway, the lover was smug. Very smug. Always so sure of himself, positive that we wouldn't get a thing on him. Every time I turned up at the crime scene he'd be there, in amongst the crowd, watching. Always so that I knew he was there. It was unnerving.

"This went on for weeks. Weeks, and still nothing. I brought him in for questioning repeatedly. He agreed willingly every time, smug as ever. He knew I knew. I knew he knew I knew. He'd sneer at me whenever no one else was looking. I knew I had our man, I just didn't have the evidence. I knew he had sexually assaulted her, too. He never loved her, it was all just a game to him. He took pleasure out of fooling people, but he couldn't fool me."

She had sat down at the table by this point, her legs not managing to support her properly as she had to relive the experience.

Grissom took her hand atop of the table, not caring who saw, and squeezed it reassuringly, giving her a small smile. He was silently urging her to continue, to get it over with. She took a deep breath, and continued.

"I was getting closer to nailing him. He was getting agitated, not visibly, but I knew he was. That's when I started getting the letters. Once a week, at first. Then one every few days, then everyday. Typed. Always typed. Envelopes sealed without saliva, no stamps, hand delivered. No fingerprints, must have been wearing gloves too. I knew they were from him. He'd give me looks when no one else was looking, and when he was absolutely sure that there were no CCTV cameras on him. Letting me know he was watching. Always watching."

She stopped abruptly, choking on her words as her eyes welled up with tears. Grissom gave her hand another reassuring squeeze, as she wiped her eyes with her free hand, composing herself as best she could before going on.

"I returned to the crime scene again. There was no one there apart from me, and one other person."

"Where do you come into this, Gil?" Catherine asked, suspiciously, eyeing Grissom and Sara's still attached hands in the middle of the table.

"I was the one working the case with her." He replied, softly.

The rest of the room took in this information silently, but not without exchanging glances. Sara ignored them and continued.

"I knew, I just knew that there was something else there. There had to be. We searched for hours, combed every room, every inch of floor, every wall, even every ceiling. Then, then I heard a noise. A bang. Sounded like the front door being slammed. Then all of a sudden, he was there. There in the doorway, gun in hand. Grissom...Grissom..."

She started to cry again. Grissom took this as his cue to take over.

"Sara was working in the corner of the room, whereas I was working in the middle. He lifted his gun, and aimed it at Sara, so, so I lunged at him. He shot me in the shoulder, and as I went down onto my knees, I've found out that he hit me on the head with the base of his gun, knocking me out cold. Sara was alone by that point."

He looked up at her, conveying that it was her turn to talk.

"He ran up to me," she started in a shaky voice, "and we...we struggled. I was trying to keep the gun aimed anywhere but at Grissom or me, and he was trying to do the opposite. He bashed me up pretty bad, punched me in the face and stomach, cut my lip, and hit my head against the floor. But somehow, I have no idea how, I managed to get the upper hand, and I actually managed to get the gun out of his hand. I...I kicked him backwards, and aimed his gun at him. He lunged for me again, so I shot him in the leg."

She was visibly shaking now, her eyes once again welling up with tears.

"The police must have arrived pretty soon, as did the paramedics. Tom was arrested while Sara and I were treated to. He was imprisoned for five years for assault on two CSIs. We never did find that evidence."

The room was silent, until Nick broke it.

"So why's this all coming up again now?"

Grissom handed Sara the evidence bag containing the card, and, without looking at it, she placed it in the centre of the table.

"Another one? Now?" Came Catherine's shocked response. Sara just nodded. "Well, are you sure it's the same guy?" Again, Sara nodded.

"Oh yeah, it's definitely him."

"Who is this guy, Sara?" Warrick's angry, concerned voice boomed.

"Tom Dupont." She whispered.

As the news sunk in, the room, once again, fell silent.

xxx


End file.
